VOL. 22, NO. 6 VANCOUVER, B.C. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1962 a? Save Columbia for Canada “Danger on the Columbia is mounting. The public must act now to save the Columbia for Canada by making their stand known to Ottawa and Victoria.” This was the appeal this week from B.C, Communist Party leader Nigel Morgan. (See story page 3). On Tuesday the U.S. moved to increase pressure on. Canada to sign the unpopular draft treaty. The chairman of the U.S. section of the inter- national joint commission, Tony Roncalio, warned that the U.S. may seek a new treaty to go ahead with the Libby Dam. This is attempted blackmail. Now is the time to demand the treaty be scrapped and replaced by an all-Canadian development of the Columbia. HO “City Hall trying to shut me up” RANKIN | Fighting ratepayer presi- in a radio statement Wednes- | day night that City Hall offi- cials cut his home assessment | Wednesday afternoon “to shut /me up” in the fight for lower taxes on homes. | Earlier the Assessment Ap- peal Board cut his home -assessment by $950 on land ‘and $1000 on improvements, but rejected his demand that he be allowed to compare his home assessment with that of business properties. Rankin said) he-will~con- tinue the fight on behalf of city homeowners. (See earlier story below). HARRY RANKIN Rankin fights high assessment on homes Harry Rankin, Central Council of Ratepayers presi- dent Harry Rankin charged wv negotiations. Linked with and equally stressed was the need for in- creased wages to “maintain the workers’ share of rising productivity. Other proposals dealt with establishing security against ‘lay-offs; research programs to examine technological change and their effects on the work- ers; longer annual vacations and the desirability of press- ing for an “overtime bank” in each industry. The most remarkable fea- ture of the conference was however, the strength and pressure of the demand for comprehensive fight for shor- ter hours of work. It was the more remarkable in light of the agenda brought in by the Federation officers, which subjected the delegates dent, charged before the Vancouver Court of Revision that 75 percent of the city’s residential property is grossly overassessed and assessments on business prop- erties are as ow as 17 percent of their value. to a whole day of speeches by university professors on the Saturday and failed to place any specific recommen- RAISE PAY B.C LA OVER 100,000 UNIONISTS REPRESENTED AT PARLEY Shorter hours! This demand united a conference of 175 B.C. trade union delegates representing 78 unions and more than 100,000 B.C. workers which met in Vancouver last week- end to work out a common approach to the 1962 contract OR dations before the conference ! matic proposition for the la- when it met in closed session on the Sunday to tackle the question of program. 2 The. Sunday sessions made it clear, however, that un- derneath the wish-washy leadership by the Federation officers there is growing a ‘mighty movement for mili- tant policies centred around the fight for shorter hours: and higher pay. Significantly, all delegates from the key IWA union who spoke at the convention, sing- led out the hours question as the main problem for trade unionists. ; One of the recommenda- tions of the conference was that all affiliated unions in- corporate the slogan “‘short- er hours” into the masthead of their papers, raising it above a mere negotiating de- mand into a major program- bor movement as a whole. A number of independent unaffiliated unions partici- pated in the conference as ob- servers thus carrying forward an important tradition which has: seen these unions attend major onferences of this na- ture. e An interview with union- ists who attended both ses- sions of the conference brought forth the following opinions. e The main weakness of the convention was the fail- ure to come to grips with the question of organized co-or- dination of the fight for shor- ter hours or higher pay. The matter was left to the discre- tion of each union. This, they say, seriously weakens the ef- fectiveness of the struggle. e The organization of the See LABOR, Pg. 3 a } : Rankin asked the court to far evidence on this charge and proposed to submit the Cases of 30 business prop- erties which would give Weight to his allegations. aoe court reserved decision € request until later this Week but did decide to in- Tene a claim by Rankin ree a property located at Fk ma and Selkirk, which S assessed at $5,490, sold in November 1958 for $208,000. During this exchange Court chairman Brakenridge, said “You've opened up such &@ wide field. Should it come Out as you suggest that down- town property is underas- Sessed, then it would appear that other property is over- assessed. -But how far are.we Soing to go in this? We can’t reassess the whole city.” To which Rankin shot back “Why not.” Ex. Alderman Bill Orr, real estate big wig and long time a representative of the real estate lobby on city council, said he couldn’t see that it is relevant to com- pare business property with residential property. The hearings are continu- ing but observers say that they are the hottest they have seen for many. years. Many suggested that the Court of Revision seemed to be on the defensive. What has thrown the city fathers and their court for a loss is the challenging, in a serious way, of the very dis- 'tather than just dealing with each appeal as an (See Pg. 8) isolated question. multi-million dollar The Abandon Cuba real estate kings are expect- ed to throw every gun they have into the pattle as mil- lions of dollars in taxes are China trade tribution of the tax. load,|| demands U.S. Latin America by U.S. The people of Latin Am- erica have been aroused by the U.S. action last week at the meeting of Organization of American States in pushing through a vote to oust Cuba from the “family of the Ameri- cas.” Six of the large coun- tries abstaining were Ar- gentine, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Mex- ico — who between them represent 70 percent of the people of Latin Amer- ica. The U.S. action has pro- voked mass demonstrations such as the One shown here in Uruguay. Argentina has been hurled into a political crisis, and this week the Uruguayan trade unions set Wednesday for a gen- eral strike to protest the OAS decision to expel Cuba. involved.